Beef Spectacular 2024: Rookie award taken out by Bowen Pastoral

With a score of 779.5 points out of 1000 Bowen Pastoral also took out Rookie of the Year, a new award introduced in 2024 for the highest performing first-time entrant.

The team of five Angus steers finished seventh for feedlot performance with a score of 290 points out of 350.

One steer received the full 70 points for feedlot performance with an average daily gain of 2.56 kilograms per day.

In the carcase section two carcases were marble score 2 and branded under Riverine Premium Beef and the remaining three were marble score 1 and made the grade for Teys Certified Premium Black Angus.

Stephen, Josh and Nick Peake, are co-principles of Bowen Poll Herefords, Peakes Angus and Bowen Wagyu, collectively under Bowen Pastoral Company.

Stephen Peake said they wanted to get more of their animals tested and see how they were performing in the real world.

Mr Peake said the Angus herd was about 500 head, with only about 30 Angus steers to choose from for the trial.

"Most of the contemporary group they are from remain as bulls," he said.

"The male group of calves certainly weren't from the top end so it is a great thrill and shows the program has a fair bit of depth in the genetics."

Mr Peake said as they know the pedigree of each steer the results from the trial will help make future breeding decisions, as they were testing various sire lines.

He said the stud is run as a commercial herd and they cover a variety of markets for their clients.

"We keep them as commercial stock so they've got to perform under climatic and environmental conditions they're thrown under to get the performance," he said.

"They've got to tick all the fertility boxes, temperament, feet, do-ability."

Mr Peake said the performance in all conditions was key.

"I think that's the testing thing in the stud industry in my opinion is if you want five start data you needs five star accommodation," he said.

"The female herd in Australia is thrown under a lot of adverse conditions and they've got to be able to handle it wherever they go.

"So that's an important part of our selection. If you get cattle with survivability then you can really focus on your carcase traits."

Mr Peake said he was thrilled with the results, which meant they were headed in the right direction and will continue to enter the trial.

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